It's a well known fact that one of the biggest disadvantages of being a jilbabi is ironing our jilbabs! Jilbabs are made up of so much fabric, such delicate fabric, which can often crease so easily and take what feels like years to iron, ugh!
It's a question we get asked a LOT:
"Does this crease easily", "Is this easy to iron?".
Unless your jilbab is made from heavy/medium weight winter fabric, it will be prone to some creasing. And to be honest, yes. Our jilbabs, like most others, can unfortunately crease quite easily. But wait...don't loose hope! Creasing will only occur if you're not taking these 4 necessary steps :
It all starts during your wash process...
1) Make sure you're not over-filling your washing machine.
Not only will this prevent your clothes from getting thoroughly cleaned but having all those clothes squished together will cause some very dramatic creases. This is actually the most important step. Water and heat are the two main factors of removing creases but they can also SET creases, and those are the kinds of creases you want to avoid at all costs because they're a PAIN to remove.
2) When your clothes are done washing, remove them straight away!
As I mentioned above, water can cause creases to set so leaving damp clothes all all crumpled together will cause creases to start seeping in quite quickly.
3) Make sure your clothes aren't too dry.
If you're one to usually give your wash load a few more spins after it's done, don't do this! Not with your jilbabs. We need that water to help smooth over any creases which are trying to make an appearance. The water will help weigh down the jilbab and also as I said before, water is a crucial factor in removing creases, it makes the fabric more receptible to be altered. Think of it as sand, when it's damp you can mould it into any shape you want , when it's dry it just won't cooperate. We need to mould away those creases!
4) Air dry, avoid using a dryer.
Some of you might be thinking ??? "I thought you said heat was an important factor in removing creases". Well, yes and no. Let me explain. Leaving your jilbabs to airdry will help your creases to, yes, literally fall out. This is why we need to leave them quite damp, the water helps with weighing down the jilbab and allowing the creases to be smoothed out. As soon as you remove your jilbab from the washing machine simply place it on a hanger and let it airdry just like that, ready to be placed straight into the wardrobe after.
Putting your jilbabs in a dryer alongside your other washing can make creases set, just like in the washing machine, having clothes squished together they will be drying in a squished position and setting the creases in that position which is not what we want. That being said, it is possible to dry your jilbabs in the dryer it just requires a certain level of skill. First tip would be not to put the rest of your washing inside at the same time as your jilbabs. Your jilbabs are light and airy a lot of other clothes are mainly cotton and can be heavy and weigh down or tangle up the jilbabs which is usually what causes the creasing. Because of this, you should only dry your jilbabs with similar items of clothing: niqabs, satin, light airy items. Avoid any large items like bedsheets or towels even if they are light they will get tangled with your jilbab and you'll be left with some lovely prominent creasing. Whilst your jilbabs are hot they are very susceptible to creasing so once they're done you need to remove them from the dryer immediately and hang them up straight away, don't put them down or leave them to sit in the dryer because they will most definitely crease VERY quickly.
Helpful notes:
These tips above will work on most clothes not just jilbabs.
Using a dryer on already creased jilbabs can actually work out in your favour, as long as you follow the steps in point 4, you can use your dryer as one large iron! Just pop your jilbabs inside and let them creases fall out hunny, I'd recommend only doing this with 2 jilbabs at a time.
I hope these tips are able to help some of you, they most certainly work on our jilbabs and make my life a whole lot easier, I probably iron about once a year LOL! (p.s. I despise ironing)
Sometimes we just don't have the time to consistently follow a routine like this, so stay updated with our blog as we will also be speaking about how to iron your jilbabs in just 3 minutes! Yes I know, it usually takes at least 10!
Thank us later XX
- Muslimah Kouture
